The timing of the Commonwealth Table Tennis Championship might have displeased many as it ends just three days before the World Championships. But given their women’s team promising performance against a top side like Singapore, India will take it positively as a very good preparatory stint before landing at the bigger tourney to be held in Paris.
Indian eves routed Scotland in the morning with a 3-0 verdict but in the second tie they faced one of the top team in the world Singapore.
Mouma Das opened the contest with a bang defeating 27th ranked Mengyu YU in the first set with a 11-7 win. But, the 231st Indian lost the momentum and lost the next three set 9-11, 5-11 and 6-11.
India’ s second player in Madhurika Patkar also gave a valiant fight. Up against the world number four Feng Tianwei, the 317th ranked Indian fought back after losing the first game 2-11. In the second set, she tried her best to down the london Olympics bronze medallist with a 13-11 victory. But, Feng showed her brilliance and played with vengeance. She halted Madhurika by winning next two set 2-11 and 5-11.
However, against Singapore what needed to take the match to the fourth tie was a special effort and it came from Neha Aggarwal, who was the stand-out performer of the day at the Thyagraja Indoor stadium.
With all odds heavily stacked against her, Neha, returning after a long period due to injury produced a performance which is not only one of her best moments but also one of the best from India’s table tennis.
The 430th ranked Indian girl pulled off a sensational upset against 91st ranked Yihan Zhou and won 11-6, 12-10, 7-11, 11-6.
This show not only helped India got a chance for another game but also gave them a much-needed confidence.
Neha had represented India in the 2008 Beijing Olympics but after that her rise has been halted by back injury and she was forced into oblivion by the injury.
After a long lay-off the Delhi girl recovered in March and trained here and in Chennai. She was selected in the team to train in China before the Commonwealth Championship.
“I suffered a lot in between 2008 to 2012. But, today I played with confidence. Before playing that I was thinking that I will beat her. It feels happy to get back into rhythm and win like this at an international event like this,” Neha said. “The training camp really helped me. It was necessary that I get a feel of playing international matches. So today it feels good that I won a tough game.”
“I had not played with this girl before. But, I was defending well and my services were coming off really well. So, it helped me and after this she felt the pressure and I countered the spin reasonably well. So, today I played much better and it will do a lot of good to my confidence going into future,” Neha added.
In the fourth tie against Singapore, Mouma had to work hard against Feng and managed to win two sets before going down in the final set with the scoreline reading 5-11, 11-8, 5-11, 13-10 and 4-11. Mouma had rattled Feng in the two sets but she lost out of patience and energy.
In the next encounter against Wales Shamini Kumaresan, Mouma and Neha gave India another 3-0 win and assured the host a medal by sailing into semifinal where they will meet England.
While the women’s team had a tough day, the men’s team had an easy outing on Monday as they finished as the top team from group E to enter the semifinal by winning three ties against Northern Ireland, Scotland and Malaysia.
The men’s team will be buoyed by the performance of their two youngsters Harmeet Desai and Sanil Shetty, who played against opponents from Malaysia and Scotland.
While Harmeet defeated Dunley Foo 11-7, 11-6, 5-11 and 11-8, Shetty moved past past Niall Cameron 11-5, 9-11, 11-8 and 11-3.
The Indian men’s team are also assured of a medal and will play England in the semifinals on Tuesday.